What happened on 09-09-1999?

raccoon · 2019-09-09T20:12:46.000Z

Today is 09-09-2019.

What happened twenty years ago today?

Do you remember?

The Sega Dreamcast came out in America.

It was a very successful video game console launch, at the time.

I remember I was in college and one of my roommates and I went to an electronics store so he could pick up his Dreamcast, controllers, and games.

Good times!

Terry_Oregon · 2019-09-09T20:34:11.000Z

Y2K fear-mongering was in full swing.

=========quote from 1999 Gary North website===========

Gary North's Y2K Site

The Year 2000 Problem:
The Year the Earth Stands Still

We've got a problem. It may be the biggest problem that the modern world has ever faced. I think it is. At 12 midnight on January 1, 2000 (a Saturday morning), most of the world's mainframe computers will either shut down or begin spewing out bad data. Most of the world's desktop computers will also start spewing out bad data. Tens of millions -- possibly hundreds of millions -- of pre-programmed computer chips will begin to shut down the systems they automatically control. This will create a nightmare for every area of life, in every region of the industrialized world.

It's called the year 2000 problem. It's also called the millennium bug, y2k, and (misspelled), the millenium time bomb. Millennium or millenium: it doesn't matter how we spell it; this bomb isn't going away.

Think of what happens if the following areas go down and stay down for months or even years: banks, railroads, public utilities, telephone lines, military communications, and financial markets. What about Social Security and Medicare? If Social Security and Medicare go down, it will affect millions of people. Yet both programs are at risk.

Is this possible? It's far more than merely possible. One man who thinks that disruptions are likely is Ed Yourdon, one of America's senior mainframe computer programmers, author of two dozen books on programming. He and his daughter have written a book, TIME BOMB 2000. You can read the Preface by clicking the link I've provided under the category, "Domino Effect." See the document, Yourdon on the Domino Effect. I have also posted extracts from a key article he wrote in the summer of 1997. See the Categories "Domino Effect" and "Programmers' Views." Look for the key word, "Yourdon." You may not believe my scenario. You had better take Yourdon's scenario very seriously. In the Category "Programmers' Views," he warns programmers that it may soon be time to quit their big city jobs and head for safer places. See the posting: Yourdon: Should Programmers Quit and Leave Town in 1999? If they do, there will be no solution for y2k. Will they quit? I'm betting my life on it. The exodus of programmers will begin no later than 1999.

Months before January 1, 2000, the world's stock markets will have crashed. Who is going to leave his money in his bank if he thinks his bank's computer is not reliable? A worldwide run on the banks will create havoc in the investment markets. People who have placed their retirement hopes in stocks and mutual funds will see their dreams vanish. How reliable will stocks and mutual funds be if the banking system has closed down? How will you even get paid? How will your employer get paid? How will governments get paid?

By the way, no government tax collection agency above the county level is Year 2000-compliant today. People will know in 2000 that the government cannot trace them. Will they continue to pay, especially if the huge government welfare programs for the elderly have shut down?

But if governments don't get paid, what happens to government debt markets? How high will interest rates go in 1999 if investors think that governments will default in 2000? What will high rates do to the world's economy?

Everything is tied together by computers. If the computers go down or can no longer be trusted, everything falls apart. And it matters not a whit to the computers whether we accept this fact or not. They do what they've been programmed to do. They've been programmed to recognize 2000 as 1900. (Uncorrected PC architecture DOS and Windows-based desktop computers will revert back either to 1980 or 1984. They can be corrected briefly, but as soon as a PC is turned off, the correction dies. It will reboot to 1980 or 1984. Meanwhile, PC programs must be redesigned.)

Our first response when we hear this news is denial. Most people will stay in denial, including the business managers whose companies are totally vulnerable to a computer failure. This is why the problem will not be fixed. Everyone in authority will deny that time has run out to get this fixed, right up until December 31, 1999. They are paid to deny this. I'm saying that it's over. Right now. It cannot be fixed. Whatever it does, the Millennium Bug will bite us. How hard? There the debate begins.

Read the list of vulnerable systems that was posted by the Institution of Electrical Engineers. It's under "Noncompliant Chips": If These Systems Are at Risk, Everything Is at Risk. Anyone who says that y2k is not a big problem needs to understand just how many systems are at risk. Print out this list and hand it to the skeptic. Let him see for himself.

I don't expect you to believe me . . . yet. That is why I have created this site. On this site you will find links to other Web sites that have posted documents related to the Year 2000 Problem. Included are such things as military sites, government hearings, news releases, and much more. I also include comments with each document, so that you can understand why I think it's important.

Despite its 3,500+ entries, the goal of this site is not to bury you in information. Rather, it is to give you a sense of the magnitude of the problem. The domino effect of a computer-driven breakdown in supply delivery systems, including the means of payment (banks), will be huge. This site will help you to evaluate your own personal vulnerability.

I have many critics who believe that my scenario is too apocalyptic. You must decide for yourself. This Web site is designed to provide you with relevant evidence to help you make an informed opinion, and then a principled series of decisions.

If you have practical questions -- where to go, what to buy, etc. -- ask them on one or more of the discussion forums. That is why I have created them.

When you hear good news about some organization that is y2k-compliant, recall Ronald Reagan's statement with respect to disarmament treaties: "Trust, but verify." Get a signed letter on letterhead stationery that the organization is 100% compliant. Until you receive this form of written assurance, which the outfit's lawyers have cleared, assume the worst. Don't take seriously any promise that the outfit will be compliant RSN: Real Soon Now.

Note: If my critics want to create their own Web sites filled with "it's not going to be all that bad" evidence, they may do so. I am unaware of any such site on the Web today.

I am also unaware of any y2k programmer who says, "Even if programmers don't get this fixed, there will not be big problems." The debate is over two questions: (1) "Can the programmers get this fixed in time?" and (2) "How big will our problems be if they don't?" My answers: "no" and "catastrophic." You'll have to decide for yourself, either now or later.

raccoon · 2019-09-09T20:59:08.000Z

I actually thought there was going to be a Mini-Y2K on 9-9-1999...

Because it used to be, decades before 1999, that if you want a computer feature to function forever, you input the date of 9-9-99.

This is because, of course, the year 1999 will never come.

SKV89 · 2019-09-09T21:13:15.000Z

OMG can’t believe it was 20 years already. I still remember Dreamcast as a nextgen system. It was a great system and very powerful for its time. A pity everyone was waiting to buy the PS2 due to Sony’s advertisement and pre release rumor mill was so much more successful and everyone thought the PS2 was so much more powerful than it really is.

I remember the Y2K bug exagerrated a million times too. I was telling my friends that had a feeling nothing was going to happen and indeed no thing happen. Should have bet money on it.

raccoon · 2019-09-09T21:34:02.000Z

I think Dreamcast was great for its time, but the PS2 has a much better library, better controllers, and the DVD format is better than the GD-ROM format of Dreamcast.

Of course, the PS2 is newer, and I did really enjoy my Dreamcast.

mgracia85 · 2019-09-09T21:49:18.000Z

Was this where the Sony president came out and only said “$299” or something to that effect?

Lightbringer · 2019-09-09T21:54:19.000Z

Terry Oregon:

Y2K fear-mongering was in full swing.

Actually, that was all quite impressive. All the “hysteria” made y2k a non-self-fulfilling prophecy.

At at least one company I know of (and worked at), management was poopooing it left’n’right ’til all that hysteria went full-swing, then came around with, “Hmmm, if everyone’s going on and on about it, maybe there is some truth to it…”, and then got people looking.

I remember where I worked at the time, I never cared because I always always always used yyyymmdd as my date format, but I saw in-house code that didn’t. I showed some examples of said code, and got furrowed brows in response. “Hmmm, we’ll have to look into that…”, but not much happened. This went on a coupla years ’til we actually hit 1999, and then, finally, they took it seriously.

Big push, meetings, more meetings, code-a-palooza, and finally we got compliant.

It was easy for me, ’cause I didn’t have to do a thing. :laughing:

Terry_Oregon · 2019-09-09T22:11:55.000Z

Lightbringer:

Terry Oregon:

Y2K fear-mongering was in full swing.

Actually, that was all quite impressive. All the “hysteria” made y2k a non-self-fulfilling prophecy. At at least one company I know of (and worked at), management was poopooing it left’n’right 'til all that hysteria went full-swing, then came around with, “Hmmm, if everyone’s going on and on about it, maybe there is some truth to it…”, and then got people looking. I remember where I worked at the time, I never cared because I always always always used yyyymmdd as my date format, but I saw in-house code that didn’t. I showed some examples of said code, and got furrowed brows in response. “Hmmm, we’ll have to look into that…”, but not much happened. This went on a coupla years 'til we actually hit 1999, and then, finally, they took it seriously. Big push, meetings, more meetings, code-a-palooza, and finally we got compliant. It was easy for me, 'cause I didn’t have to do a thing. :laughing:

The medical company I worked for ONLY spent money to become compliant because customers were asking about it. The hyperbole - according to people like Gary North - was that medical monitors could shut down if the Y2K bug was not fixed. Never mind that there weren't ANY medical monitors in the entire industry that would shut down if the internal clock spewed out a wrong/meaningless date.

One thing I noticed; not even poor countries around the world (who didn't have the resources to become compliant) suffered any major problems.

What confused Y2K - is that there was a small element of truth to it - but it was WAY over-hyped.

Mr.Scott · 2019-09-09T22:41:07.000Z

Y2K was nothing. Just wait until January 19, 2038 03:14:07 GMT!

Lightbringer · 2019-09-09T22:44:23.000Z

It’s like telling a kid his face will freeze that way, or to stop that else he’ll go blind, etc. Sometimes you just gotta scare the beJAYzus out of someone to get ’em moving to do anything.

We actually did have code that would ass/u/me, say, 19xx if xx were 50-99, or 20xx if 00-49, something like that. They probably still do, only “tweaked” it somewhat.

Sure, some people’d yowl about their scissors breaking when y2k would hit, but a lot of things would’ve broken unless preemptively fixed. Sure, hyperbole in a lot of cases, but it ended up working out.

Lightbringer · 2019-09-09T22:51:42.000Z

Mr.Scott:

Y2K was nothing. Just wait until January 19, 2038 03:14:07 GMT!

…and then the Earth expl— umm, wait.

SKV89 · 2019-09-09T23:00:13.000Z

I had a coworker buddy that was half Mayan and half German. He studies Mayan prophecy more than his job and of course 2012 was one of his main talking points. I really enjoyed listening to his theories. It’s like watching a good movie. He was telling me from his studies, 2012 does not mean end of the world but the world will enter a new age and experience some kind of enlightenment. There will be big changes… All that time I was reciting the stuff he taught me to others and ended up kind of disapppointed to not see anything major happened. All I can remember was Obama’s reelection that year but that wasn’t the type of enlightenment I was hoping for.

xevious · 2019-09-15T21:11:35.000Z

Of course, hindsight is 2020, but being in the software industry myself at that time, I was really quite confident that there would be few interruptions. Critical code must be written properly, to be understood and maintained. So it’s generally not too difficult for those who maintain it to assess the nature. I think the only real danger was at the physical level, old processors with burned-in firmware that treat the year as 2 digits. But most of those wouldn’t be in the path of critical operations. Thanks to advanced text search capabilities, all date functions could be uncovered and then adjusted. Essentially, it’s expanding the parameters and adjusting logic that manipulates variables.

But now we have something to remember 09-09-2019. It was a day of “nein, nein.” “No, no!”